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Customary Units/Transcript
Transcript Title text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Inside a television studio, a cooking show is beginning. A boy, Tim, and his robot friend, Moby, stand behind a kitchen counter. Moby wears a chef's hat, and Tim wears an apron. TIM: Hey there, and welcome back to the Mysteries of Life. We’ve got something extra-fun planned for today: We’re gonna be using a secret family recipe to make delicious shepherd’s pie. Moby beeps. TIM: That’s right, Moby, it’s a very special recipe. My great grandfather brought it over from Wales 100 years ago! On-screen, Tim holds up an old, dusty piece of paper. Text at the top reads, Nana’s Delicious Shepherd’s Pie Recipe. TIM: Let’s see… looks like we’ll need 4 drams of butter… 9 scruples of flour… 6 and threequarter gills of potatoes? What the heck is this? Moby shrugs his shoulders and beeps. A letter appears, taped to the bottom of the recipe. Text reads as Tim narrates: Dear Tim and Moby, I know all about the metric system, but what about miles, pounds, gallons, and all that stuff? From, Angel TIM: Well, miles, pounds, and gallons are all examples of customary units. A label appears, reading, customary units. A series of images appear: a paved road, a dumbbell, and a jug of milk. TIM: They’re a lot older than metric units, and they’re based on the Imperial System developed in Great Britain. A label appears, reading, Imperial System. TIM: Britain and most of its former colonies converted to the metric system during the 20th century. On-screen, a world map appears, with crowns representing Britain's former colonies. Most of the crowns disappear and are replaced by the number, 10. TIM: But in the United States, the old system stayed in place! On-screen, the crown on the map over the United States remains. Moby beeps. TIM: Actually, most customary units are based on measurements used in agriculture and trade. For example, the acre, a unit of area, was originally defined as the amount of land that a farmer and his ox could plow in one day. A label appears, reading, acre. A farmer and an ox plow a field. Moby beeps. TIM: Well, compared to metric units, customary units have a lot of drawbacks. In the metric system, every unit is based on powers of 10. But in the customary system, pretty much everything is divided into fractions, not decimals. On-screen, two rulers appear. One marks off centimeters by groups of 10. The other marks off inches by eighths. TIM: To master it, you have to memorize dozens of different units, and lots of complicated conversions. On-screen, an astronomer reads a table of conversions. Text reads: 12 inches equal 1 foot, 3 feet equal 1 yard, and 5,280 feet equal 1 mile. Moby beeps. TIM: Are you sure you want to know these units? You’re not going to have to use them in science class, or anything like that. Moby beeps and holds up the shepherd’s pie recipe. TIM: All right. We’ll start with length. The smallest customary unit of length is the inch. It’s about the same as 2 and a half centimeters. A label appears, reading, inch. Part of a ruler appears, showing the length of an inch. A person's thumb appears next to it. TIM: The next largest unit is the foot, which is 12 inches long. A label appears, reading, foot. A footprint appears. TIM: Most rulers are a foot long; and so are many submarine sandwiches! On-screen, a ruler and a sandwich appear next to the footprint. TIM: 3 feet equal 1 yard. A label appears, reading, yard. Three footprints appear in a line. TIM: American football fields are all 100 yards long. On-screen, a football field appears, marked off in 10 yard intervals. TIM: And finally, you’ve got the mile. A label appears, reading, mile. TIM: It’s equivalent to 1,760 yards, or 5,280 feet. Long distances are usually measured in miles. On-screen, a map of the United States appears. A dotted line between Boston and Denver is labeled, 2,000 miles. TIM: Units of length are also used to measure areas and volumes. On-screen, a square appears. Each side is labeled, 1 foot. TIM: For example, homes are sometimes measured in square feet. A label appears, reading, square feet. TIM: And occasionally you’ll see volume measured in cubic inches or cubic feet. On-screen, a cube appears. Each side is labeled, 1 foot. Moby beeps. TIM: Right, there are other ways to measure volume, too. One of the smallest units of liquid is the fluid ounce. A label appears, reading, fluid ounce. A soda bottle and a small plastic cup of cough syrup appear. TIM: 16 fluid ounces equal 1 pint. On-screen, 16 small cups of cough syrup appear next to a pint of ice cream. TIM: 2 pints equal 1 quart. A label appears, reading, quart. 2 pints of ice cream appear next to 1 quart of milk. TIM: And 4 quarts equal 1 gallon. A label appears, reading, gallon. 4 quarts of milk appear next to a 1 gallon jug of milk. Moby beeps. TIM: Actually, there are a lot more customary units of volume. Many of them, like the teaspoon, the tablespoon, and the cup, are used in cooking. On-screen, a teaspoon, a tablespoon, and a cup appear. TIM: A cup is a half pint, or 8 ounces, and teaspoons and tablespoons are each less than an ounce. Anyway, let’s move on to mass. In the customary system, solid objects are weighed in ounces, pounds, and tons. On-screen, a set of scales appears. Moby beeps. TIM: Actually, an ounce is different from a fluid ounce, since one measures volume and the other measures weight. A slice of bread weighs about an ounce. On-screen, a slice of bread appears. TIM: There are 16 ounces in a pound. A label appears, reading, pound. 16 small weights appear next to a large weight. TIM: An N-F-L football weighs about a pound, while a bowling ball weighs about 10 pounds. On-screen, a football and a bowling ball appear. TIM: And finally, a ton is 2,000 pounds. Needless to say, only very heavy stuff is measured in tons! On-screen, an elephant and an airplane appear. TIM: And that, my robot friend, is the customary system of measurement. Now let’s see if we can figure out that recipe. Moby’s chest slides open to reveal a fresh, hot shepherd’s pie. TIM: Wow! You figured it out on your own? Moby beeps. He holds up an empty box of store-bought, heat-and-serve shepherd’s pie. TIM: Eh, I’m sure it’s just as good. Moby and Tim pick up forks and begin to eat the pie.Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Math Transcripts